This invention relates to a cloth feed system for a tufting machine of the controlled needle variety, and more particularly to a cloth feed take off system that maintains a high tension in the cloth in the vicinity of the stitch forming instrumentalities and allows a lower tension to be optimized in the cloth down-stream in the vicinity of the yarn tail extractor so as not to impede the extraction.
Controlled needle tufting machines are known which operate to skip stitch in accordance with a program for forming tufted designs in a backing fabric or cloth. These machines render selective needles or groups of needles inoperative while the remainder of the needles are operative to pierce the backing fabric upon each stroke of the needle bar. An example of this type of machine is illustrated in U.S. Pat. No. 3,881,432, assigned to assignee of the present invention.
The controlled needle tufting machines are generally cut pile machines in which the loops formed by the operative needles are cut by respective knives acting beneath the bed of the machine. When a loop is cut on the last stitch formed by an operative needle, and the needle is thereafter rendered inoperative for a number of subsequent cycles of the machine, the strand of yarn which remains extending through the needle eye while the needle is inoperative above the backing is unattached to any of the tufts previously formed. The initial loop thereafter formed when the needle is again rendered operative by the program is not locked into the backing so that when the loop is cut a loose strand of yarn, known in the industry as a "tail" protrudes from both sides of the backing. This strand must therefore be extracted. U.S. Pat. No. 2,922,214, illustrates a machine for extracting the loose tail from the backing fabric.
More recently, the tail extractor or "tail picker" as the extractor is known in the art, has been incorporated into the fabric or cloth take-off section of the tufting machine so as to conserve space and to minimize the number of parts required. Generally the fabric take-off section includes a number of rollers for pulling the backing through the tufting machine and maintaining high tension on the fabric for proper loop formation. In the past, controlled needle machines have been used almost extensively for chenille bedspread production. Recent carpet styling demands have now made these machines popular for broadloom or carpet manufacture. The heavier gauge yarns used with carpet have created a problem in the operation of the tail picker that was not previously presented. The tail picker has been found not to extract the tails properly. The loose tails were not being completely extracted.